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If a new Assisted Dying Bill is passed, it will allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to patients thought to have less than six months to live who have demonstrated a "clear and settled intention" to end their lives.

However, it will not extend assisted dying to those who are simply tired of life - and so would not permit Dignitas to operate here exactly as it does in Switzerland.

Supporters of the Bill said the Saga poll shows there is widespread support for a change in law, which they described as a "mess".

Yet opponents argued it illustrates only that the public is failing to grasp the true dangerous implications of allowing assisted suicides in the UK after swallowing Dignitas "propaganda" whole.

Lord Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor who is driving the campaign to introduce a law allowing assisted suicide, said: "There is little doubt the law is a mess – the courts, the police, the Director of Public Prosecutions who put the current guidelines in place, the public, and above all people who are dying and those who love them, all agree.

"It’s time for the legislators and the Government to set up a trusted process which can produce a solution for the long term."

UIG

Opponents warn that no brash decision should be made on allowing assisted suicide in the UK

It is an assisted-suicide conveyor belt

Baroness Finlay

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity In Dying, said: "This poll shows that people understand the current law is broken and want it fixed.

"The Bill before MPs would allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults to request medication from their doctor, should they meet numerous strict criteria, so they can end their own lives in their own homes rather than in clinics or in the shadows."

But those opposed to assisted suicide have warned it is dangerous to use snap polls as evidence that the public supports assisted dying.

Baroness Finlay, chairman of the National Council for Palliative Care, said: "A lot of people have taken a very superficial view of Dignitas and have not looked at the dangers of assisted suicide.

"They have read all the propaganda in the press about people who have gone to Dignitas, which makes it all sound wonderful and lovely.

"But when people read about what Dignitas does, they will find it horrific. It is an assisted-suicide conveyor belt."

The doctor, who specialises in end-of-life care, cited former Dignitas nurse Soraya Wernli, who has described the operation as a "product line of death concerned only with profits".

Baroness Finlay said: "We have a duty to help people who are struggling to find a way of living again, because we value life. We should not be setting up a death service. We should be improving our hospice at home and palliative care services, which are too patchy."

AFP

Nearly 300 have travelled to clinics in Switzerland since 2002

The Bishop of Carlisle, James Newcome, said: "A poll last year found that support for assisted suicide ebbed away once people were presented with the views of medical professionals, disability groups and the possibility that terminally ill people would put pressure on themselves to seek assistance with ending their lives out of fear of being a burden.

"Recent votes against legalising assisted suicide by the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly are further evidence that when given time to consider the issues in detail, there is overwhelming rejection of a change in the law.

"The Church of England believes that terminally ill people are by definition vulnerable and ought to be surrounded by love and support and with the best possible care.

"They should not be placed under a burden to consider ending their lives prematurely."

The Saga poll asked members: "To what extent do you support or oppose a change in legislation so that Dignitas, the Swiss assisted suicide clinic, would be allowed to set up a branch in the UK?"

Of the 9,794 respondents, 33 per cent said they would ‘strongly support’ such a legal change and an additional 28 per cent said they would ‘somewhat support’ it. Only 11 per cent ‘strongly opposed’ it.